Crackdown 3 is “doubling down” on its single-player campaign

Do we really need a new Crackdown game this year? Yes I said, while viciously throwing random bits of promotional merch at Alessandro for even daring to suggest that maybe waiting until I’ve finished the numerous games in my backlog might be a better idea. Thing is, we’re not getting Crackdown 3 this year. Instead, Microsoft is spacing out their various first-party releases because that’s just good business.

And as the resident tight-fisted bastard who can squeeze blood from a rock if it would earn him a few extra Rands, I can understand that. Thing is, that might be a bit of a half-truth. Sandbox games have so many elements flowing through them at any given time, that anything and everything will go wrong unless they can be spotted in time.

You’ve seen it before in games like Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption and Assassin’s Creed: They Live. And with a Baysplosion-heavy title like Crackdown 3, that’s a whole lot of Bayhem that needs the extra time given to it to get some polish in. “Development has been going incredibly well,” Microsoft Studios general manager Shannon Loftis said to Game Informer, detailing said polish and how the single-player campaign is being buffed up.

To be honest, because we obviously have this Crackdown online mode and then we also have the traditional Crackdown campaign, which has multiplayer online. But we want to launch our online beta so that it’s not too far in advance of the complete campaign. It’s actually the campaign that we’re doubling down on now.

We’ve got internal play sessions every week for Crackdown online. We’re starting now to get the campaign in. Building these open world games is both challenging and a blast, because you have to build all of the systems that interact together. Before you get to the point where you can actually experience what the game feels like and can start building your missions and telling your stories.

Depending on what you choose to destroy in the environment, there will be massive, big reactions all over the city. Gangs will get together against you. This is the first time we’ve ever had something like that.

Neat. It was that very gang warfare that made the first Crackdown so memorable. This idea of actually toppling the power structure of the criminal organisations that you were sent after, to maximise your chances of success against their leaders in combat. Why that gameplay angle was essentially dropped from the first sequel, is a mystery that I’ll never understand.

Last Updated: July 19, 2016